Multiple plan-sifter



B. NEAL.

MULTIPLE PLAN SIFTER. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 10, 1919.

Piztented'Feb. 8, 1921.

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B. NEAL.

MULTIPLE PLAN SIFTER.

APPLIQNTPON FILED JAN. 10. I919.

1,368,047. Patented Feb. 8,1921.

B. NEAL.

MULTIPLE PLAN SIFTER. APPUCATION FILED LAN-10,1919.

Patented Fb. 8, 1921.

5 SHEETS-SHEET -3.

B. NEAL.

MULTIPLE PLAN SIFTEB.

' APPLICATION FILED JAN. I0. I919- 1,368,047.

Patented Feb. 8, 1921.

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B. NEAL. MULTIPLEPLAN SIFTER. APPLICATION FH ED JAN-10.1919.

Patented Feb. 8, 1921.

PATENT OFFICE.

BURTON NEAL, OF ST. LOUIS MISSOURI.

MULTIPLE PLAN-SIFTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 8, 1921 Application filed January 10, 1919. Serial No. 270,530.

T 0 aZZ wkom'it may cancer-n:

Be it known that I, BURTON NEAL, a citizen of the United Eitates, residing in the city of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have invented new and useful improvements in lvlultiple Plan-Sifters, of which the following is a specification.

T his invention relates to the art of milling wheat and has special reference to a novel method for use in separating the ground products oi wheat in various stages of comininution, in recovering the flour produred, in separating and ret rnin for further grinding the insuiliciently reduced steel; in various grades, according to the degree pt reduction, and, finally, in separating the portion the stock which is to be used for making flour.

The machine used in practising method operates on the principle of the well known l-lagenmacher plan siiter, and posall the i of the plan-sitter while having in plan sitter machine as now constructed or, in fact, than any other machine of like dimensions now on the market.

Cl ims to the apparatusherein described are embodied in a (Jo-pending auplication Serial No. tiled March 6, 19.20 A brief reference; howeve to the general purpose of said machine, and its relation to the prior art will enable tl ent invention to be more clearly m e 00 It is gener lv recognized by miller-s that the plan-sitter is a highly eiiicient machine for separating the ground products oi? wheat, as the principle upon which it operates insures a more rapid operation, a cleaner separation and a greater capacity for the screen or sitting surface employed than any other machine used for this purpose. The only objection to its use, far as I know, is the fact that the machine is relatively long and wide as compared with its height, and the provision of the necessary sitting surface for agrven mill capacity requires the installation of more machines and the consequent se of more floor space, and of more shutting, belting, etc, than the case when mach nes of other types are used which, While interior oration to the plan-sitter, have, in a greater capacity than the plansitter and are, therefore, more economical to install and operate.

So far as I am aware no attempt has ever been made to increase the capacity of a plan-sitter machine by increasing the height I of the machine to enable a larger number of sieves to be used in vertical series in each section thereof, for the reason that the stock entering the machine is delivered onto the first or top sieve, and passes fromone sieve to the other, and the number of sieves used in vertical series must be regulated by the load on the first sieve. If the top sieve be too heavily loaded the ciiiciency of the machine will be destroyed, as the fine particles, or flour, are held away from the sitting cloth by the larger and heavier particles,

Y and the sitting action is thereby greatly de creased. In fact, if the load be too great, the sitting action of the sieve is stopped entirely.

I have discovered, however, a means by which a machine operating on the plan sitter principle may be constructed of superim-- posed sieve sections extending to almost any desired height, and permit of the separate passage through the machine to the respective sections of a plurality of distinct streams or stock to be treated in the machine. The present invention is characterized, therefore, by the novel manner of feeding the stool: to be treated to the machine and of passing the stock, both as respects the separated products and the incompletely ground middlings, hrough the machine, whereby I am enabled to use a machine of considerable height, and having a greatly increasetsieve surface, as compared with the ordinary plan-sitter.

In a typical machine of my manufacture I would employ fifty-two units, including the sieves and carriers, arranged in four sections of thirteen sieves each, in a single vertical series, as compared with a maximum of fourteen such units in vertical series in an ordinary plan-sitter. In the latter type of machine, the only way in Whicl the capacity can be increased over the use of a single section is by arranging a series of sections in a single frame, side by side, each section having, as stated, not to exceed fourteen sieves. In practice, three of these i will be understood,howeventhat usually embodied in a single each of these sections is entirely separate and distinct from the other sections. of my machines, therefore, will have onethird more capacity than an ordinary plansifter, and as my machines, owing to their small lateral dimension, are operated in. pairs, with the power shaft between them,

a pair of my machines, constituting a single machine unit, will have twothirds more capacity than an ordinary plan-sifter machine. This result I accomplish, moreover, with the use of a less amount of floor space than is required by an ordinary plan-Sifter, as the only increase in dimension in a sieve section is a lengthening by a few inches of the sieve and carrier units to permit of the provision of the necessary apertures for ac commodating the passage of the stock through the machine; while, on the other hand, I save. all of the lateral space occupied by two sieve sections of the ordinary plansifter, and employ a fourth section in addition.

By my improved system of arranging the sieve sections in vertical. series and feeding the stock simultaneously to the respective sections, one is able to evenly distribute the stock going to the machine so that every section has the proper amount of stock distributed to it, and each set of sieves is under control as to the amount of stock it should handle. This is accomplished by passing the stock in separate streams down through the distributing end of the machine to the respective distributing sieves of each section, which distributing sieves divide each stream of stock into, usually, four smaller streams, which are supplied to the set of sieves in each section for the sifting operation.

Having thus stated, in a general way, the nature and purposes of my invention 1 will now proceed to describe the same in detail,

reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a view in side elevation of my improved machine;

Fig. 2 is a view in endelevation thereof;

Fig.3 is a diagrammatic vertical sectional view through one of the machines, illustrating the course of the various products therethrough;

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic plan view showing the fifty-two sieves of amachine arranged in chronological order, some of said. sieves being broken away to conserve space;

Fig. 5 is a plan view on an enlarged scale of sieve No. 1, which is the distributing sieve; and

Fig. 6 is a similar iew of sieve No. 4, which is selected as typical of all of the other s eves, the figure being designed to make clearer the diagrammatic illustration of Fig. 4-, and the description thereof.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2, the letters rigidly connecting the two machines to gether at their upper and lower ends. Secured at their inner ends on the upper and lower'ends of the shaft C are weighted arms H and I. At its upper end the shaft G is provided with a bearing J which is connected by a universal joint K with a movable drive shaft L, the connection being off cen-' ter about L} inches. At its upper end the movable drive shaft L is connected by a universal joint M to a fixed drive shaft N provided with a pulley 0. At its-lower end the shaft C is mounted in a movable ring plate P, the movement of which is controlled by the ends of rods Q bearing on the periphery of said ring plate under pressure of springs B. As the movable shaft L is rotated the weights H and 1 cause a gymtory movement to be imparted to the two 111: chines, the ring plate moving in an orbit controlled by the spring pressed rods Q, until the shaft C comes to a center. lVooden rods ii, secured at their upper endsto the ceiling, or other fined part of the building,

T, and at their lower portions to the sides of the machines A and B, serve to control the gyratory movement of the machines and to absorb the vibration which would otherwise be occasioned. The construction and operation thus far described are well known and form no part of the present invention, and are referred to briefly so that the operation of the machine as a whole may be clearly understood.

As the shaft L is rotated the machines are given a gyratory movement to agitate and cause a travel of the stock therein in a manner well known to those skilled in the art and which need not be more particularly described.

Mounted on the interiorof each of the plan-sitters is a series of separating units, composed essentially of sieves of different grades, and carriers, which latter differ from the sieves and carriers of an ordinary plan- Sifter mainly in having their distributing ends lengthened to provide the necessary additional openings for the passage of the stock through the machine.

All of the units in a plan-sifter are commonly called sieves, although some of them are simply carriers. For convenience I have preserved this terminology, but have distinguished between the sieves and carriers in the description of the machine following. I

All of the sieves, are, in a general way, of the same construction, differing from each other mainly in the arrangement and location of the apertures through which the stock tailing over is passed from the sieve; and all of the carriers are likewise of the same general construction, differing from each other also in the arrangement and location of the apertures for permitting the escape of the stock therefrom. The carriers differ essentially from the sieves in the fact that they are not foraminous, their function I being to convey the stock passing onto them from the sieve above, back to the opposite end of the machine at which it is received by the carrier and then deposit it at the head of a sieve below it, or to carry the finished product out of the machine. The sieves and carriers are indicated in order in the drawing by the numerals from 1 to 52, beginning at the top of the machine and extending to the bottom. In Fig. 4 the sieves are arranged side by side for the purpose of describing the flow of the stock over and through them, but the numerical order of the sieves is preserved. All of the sieves and carriers are provided with the usual flights, indicated in the typical sieve of Fig. 6 by the letter V, to produce the travel of the stock, as usual in this type of machine. The sieves, being, as stated, of the same general construction, a description of thefirst,

or distributing sieve will be given, followed by a description of the paths of the unfinished products and flour through the machine, in the course of which description the location and arrangement of the apertures in the respective sieves will be indicated. It is thought in this manner the construction, as well as the operation, may be more clearly indicated than by a separate description of each sieve.

The sieve 1 comprises a rectangular frame 53 which is divided by parallel, longitudinally expending partitions 5% into four channels, indicated by the letters U, which. channels are sub-divided at the distributing end of the sieve by means of transverse partitions 55 into rectangular spaces, some of which are in the form of apertures, and some of which are closed. In the case of sieve No. 1, the four spaces adjacent to the inner ends of the channels U are in the form of openings X The numeral 56, Figs. 2 and 3, indicates a chute which conveys the stream of stock to be treated to the plan-Sifter, from which chute the stock passes into the branch chutes 57, 58, 59 and 60, the main stream of stock being thereby divided into four separate streams which enter the plan-sifter through the usual cloth tubes 61, 62, 63 and 6 1, shown in Fig. 1.

' Each of these cloth tubes is secured to an inlet on the top of the distributing sieve 1, said inlets being indicated, respectively, by the numerals 65, 66, 67, and 68. Located directly under each of these inlets on the distributing sieve 1 are partitions extending at right angles to each other across the opening, as indicated by the numeral 61*), to provide four openings, so that in the gymtory motion of the plan-'sifter each of the streams of stock entering each inlet will again be subdivided into four streams which, in the case of the distributing si re 1, are caused to flow direct to the respective openings X through which they pass and fall into the channels U of the second sieve. The sieve 2 has its bottom composed of No. 20 wire cloth, designated by W. O. in Fig. 4: and at its tail end is provided with two sets of rectangular openings, the inner set being indicated generally by the letter .Y. The outer set, indicated on sieve 4 by the letters a, b, c, and d, are first brought into use on said sieve l, so that they are indicated on this sieve. This designation. of the openings at the tail end of the sieves will be made for all of the sieves, so that the opening a in one sieve will co respond to, and have the same relative location as, the opening a in any other sieve. In its passage over the sieve 2 a certain portion of the stock will sift through and fall upon the carrier 3. That portion of the stock, indicated by the line A in Fig. 3, which tails over, passes through the openings Y in sieve 2 and through two corresponding openings Y in carrier 3 and falls upon sieve 4, whence it passes out through opening a thereof and passes down through all of the openings (4 in the various sieves and carriers, these openings forming a continuous channel, and out at the bottom of the raw chine, as indicated. The stock falling in the channels of the carrier 3, and indicated by B in Fig. 3, is carried rearwardly on said carrier to an opening X whence it falls upon the sieve 41, which sieve has its bottom covered with No. 44: grits gauze, designated by G. G. in the drawing. The stock on this sieve is caused to travel down the two center channels and back in the two outside channels, the coarse middlings, or coarse particles that will not go through the cloth, tailing over said sieve through openings X and corresponding openings similarly designated in sieve 5 onto sieve 6 whence it is conducted on said sieve to an opening 0 at the head of the sieve. The openings X in sieve 4t are covered with wire gauze to permit the escape of the stock while retaining the locust seed traveling with said stock, as later referred to. The opening is correspondingly indicated on all of the sieves and forms a continuous conduit through the machine, so that the stock, which in this case is coarse middlings, conducted to the opening 6 in sieve 6 will pass down through-the machine and out at the bottom as indicated in Fig. 3. The stock that goes through the grits gauze on sieve l drops onto sieve 5 which is covered with dusting through sieve 5.

IQXX silk, or what is termed flouring cloth, indicated by F. C. in the drawings. This stock is composed of the medium and fine middlings and flour, and is indicated by C in Fig. The stock on sieve 5 passes down through the two center channels and back through the two outside channels, and what flour does not go through the cloth together with the medium and fine middlings tails off of said sieve through open ings X, and through similar openings cor respondingly designated 'on sieve 6, onto sieve 7, which sieve is covered with 13X silk, which is another flouring cloth. The stock travels in this case down the two outer channels and back through the two central channels, and what flour does not go through the cloth together with medium and fine middlings tails oil of said sieve through openings X, and similar openings correspondingly designated in sieve 8, to sieve 9, which is covered with No. grits gauze,

indicated by G. G. The stock travels down and back on sieve 9, the fine middlin and flour passing through said sieve and the medium middlings or coarse, particles tailing oil of said sieve through openings X and through corresponding openings similarly designated in sieve 10, onto sieve 11, whence they are conducted on said sieve to the opening f at the head of said sieve. All of the sieves and carriers have a corresponding opening similarly designated, forming a continuous conduit which perunits the stock entering the opening in sieve 11 to pass down through themachine and out at the bottom thereof, as indicated in Fig. 3.

Middlings and'flour, indicated by n in Fig.3, going through sieve 9 drops onto sieve 10 which is covered with liXX silk,

which is also a flouring cloth, and travels down and back on said sieve, the fine middlings together witi the flour in the same tailing oil of said sieve through openings X and throu h corresponding openings similarly designated in sieve 11 onto sieve 12, which is covereu with 15XX silk flouring cloth. The remaining flour is dusted through this cloth, what is left being fine 'middlings, which tail off of the, sieve 12 through openings X and drop onto sieve 18, whence it is conducted on said sieve to opening 9, all of the sieves having a correspending opening forming a continuous channel, so that the fine middlings entering said opening 9 will pass down through the machine and out at the bottom.

This completes the travel of the unfinished product through the machine which product is to be returned to the mill for further reduction. The flour or finished product is first obtained from the product Thisproduct, in

dicated by Z1 drops upon sieve 6, which a carrier, on whichit is gathered and con ducted to opening Z), at the tail of the carrier, all of-the sieves having a similar 0pening, as previously stated, so that the flour will fall through these openings and out at the bottom, as indicated at the right of Fig. 3. The next flour is obtained from the product passing through the cloth on sieve 7. This flour, indicated by F drops onto sieve 8, which is a carrier, and gathers the flour and conducts it to opening I) at the tail of the carrier, where it joins stream E and passes down through the machine and out at the bottom. The next flour obtained is the product passing through the cloth on sieve No. 10. This flour, indicated by G drops onto sieve 11, which is a carrier, and which acts to gather the flour and conduct it to opening 0, through which it passes down through the machine and out at the bottom. The next flour, indicated by H is obtained from the product passing 7 it to opening d, whence it passes down through the machine and out at the bottom.

The second stream of stock which will. enter the machine through the tube 62 will be divided into four separate streams at the inlet 66 and will pass through openings formed by corresponding partitions 69 in the distributing ends of all the sieves from i to 18 and will fall upon the sieve 14-, which is a distributing sieve corresponding to sieve 1, and the passage of the flour and stock over and through the various sieves and carriers indicatedby the numerals l t to 26 will be the same as just indicated with respect to the sieves and carriers indicated by the numerals from 1 to 13, corresponding products passing through corresponding openings, as clearly indicated on the drawing. In the same way the stream of flour entering the inlet 67 will pass into the distributing sieve 27, and the stream. entering the inlet 68 will pass onto the distributing sieve 40. Thus, the streams of the unfinished product passing through the second section, ll1ClllCl-' ing the sieves from 14 to 26, are indicated by the reference characters B C? and D those passing through the third section, including the sieves from 27 to 39, by the reference characters E, C, and D and those passing throueh tie fourth section including the sie i0 to 52, by the reference charit will be understood the various streams B B B and B h corresponding openings and and pass out oi the machine as a single stream. The three streams are .t d at the bottom oi Fig. 3 by the refer nce characters applied, respectively, to

namely B (3 and D In the same mannor, as shown at the rightot Fig. 3, the four streams indicated, respectively, by A A A and A being the first scalp of the respective sections, pass through corresponding openings, and are combined. as a single stream, being designated at the bottom ot the figure by the reference character first used, namely A The reference characters E F E F E F E and F, indicate corresponding streams of the first flour which, passing through corresponding openings, combine into a single stream and pass out the bottom of the machine, where it is designated by the two reference characters E and F This particular stream of flour difiers from the others in that two streams thereof are recovered from each section of the machine. The reference characters G G G and G represent the second flour passing from the four sections of the machine, these streams combining into one stream, as in the previous cases, and being indicated by the reference character first used, G The reference characters H H H and H indicate the streams oi the third flour passing from the four sections of the machine, which pass out of the machine as a single stream, the latter being indicated by the reference character first employed, H

In order that the ditl'erences existing between my machine and the ordinary plansii'ter may be better understood I may state that the sieves from 1 to 13 would constitute the entire vertical sitting capacity of an ordii ,ry plan-sitter machine; and, as previously stated, any increase in capacity was secured by combining a greater or less number of such sections side by side in a suitable frame. In such arrangement, however, the flow of the stock in each section is wholly independent of the flow of the stock in every other section. The problem presented, therefore, was to enable three additional units, comprising the sieves 14 to 26, 27 to 39 and 40 to 52', respectively, to be used in a single machine in vertical series. To do this it was necessary to provide means whereby the similar product of each unit would pass through a corresponding outlet extending through the machine, either as respects the flour, or the unfinished product to be returned to the mill for further reduction. i'luch result I have accomplished by slightly increasing the length of the distributing end of the sieves to provide for the accommodation and sub-division of four streams of stock, the first stream being distributed on sieve 1, the second stream passing through said sieve and all of the intervening sieves from 2 to 13 onto the second distributing sieve 1d, the third stream passing through sieve 1 and all of the intervening sieves from 2 to 26 and falling on the third distributing sieve 27, and the fourth stream passing through the sieve 1 and all or" the intervening sieves from 1 to 39 and falling on the fourth distributing sieve 40. In each unit or section the treatment is a duplicate 0t what occurs in all of the other sections, and, as

stated, corresponding products from each section are combiner n th corresponding products "from every other section.

in the pairsifter type oi? machine the sieves are kept clean. (3., the sitter surfaces freed from adhering flour, by the use of lotus-t seed and wheat kernels. I have described the op X in sieve l as being covered with wire gauze to prevent the lecust seed from passing through with the stock on said sieve. These seeds remain on. sieve l, being contii'iuously circulated over the same with the stock. The wheat seeds are first applied to sieve 5 and travel with the ground product over all of the sieves except the last, and are returned from the last sieve or each section to sieve 2, where they fall on inclines Z delivering them to openings Z in said sieve through which they fall onto a small incline Z which deliver them to openings Z in sieve 3, through which openings, and openings Z in sieve 4, they fell upon sieve 5 On which sieve, as stated, they are first used. The wheat seeds follow the course of the stock from sieve 5 to sieve 9 in which latter the openings X are covered with wire gauze to prevent these seeds from passing through with the stock.

In like manner, and for the same reason, openings X in sieve 12 are covered with wire gauze. An opening Z in sieve 9 permits the seeds to tall through to sieve 10, suitable means, (not shown), being provided to conduct the seeds to the sitting portion of said sieve; and in sieve 12openings Z permit the seeds to fall through said sie e upon inclines Z on sieve 13, which inclines slope in the direction of the conveyor Z, so that the seed will he delivered to and lifted by said conveyor, which will in turn deliver them upon the upper incline Z 7 l have not considered it necessary to illustrate or describe in any greater detail the construction and operation Oil these spiral conveyors, and the course of the seeds, as the op ration in my machine in this respect is the same as with any other type of plansifter, and my invention is not particularly concerned with this feature.

In Fig. 8, all of the rectangular divisions at the head and tail of the sieves which are closed, are cross-hatched. Those covered with wire gauze are provided with crisscross lines.

While I have described and illustrated the use of tour sieve sections in each of my machines, I wish it understood that the invention is not confined to the particular number or" sections, as the number of sections be any number from two upward. For general. milling purposes, however, I believe a maeration, which consists in simultaneously conducting a series of streams of such ground product through a plurality of sections of plan-sitter separating devices, controlling the flow of stock on said devices and'combining streams of like finished and unfinished products from the various sec tions and conducting them separately from the separating mechanism.

2. The method of separating the ground product of Wheat in various stages of comminution by the plan-sitter principle of op erationwhich consists in simultaneously conducting a series of streams of such ground product through a plurality of sections of plan-sitter separating devices arranged in vertical series, controlling the flow or stock on said devices and combining streams of like finished and unfinished products from the various sections and conducting them separately from the separating mechanism.

3. The method of separating the ground product of Wheat in various stages of comminution by the plan-sifter principle of operation which consists in simultaneously conducting a series of streams of such the various sections to follow common.

course after leaving the respective sections; whereby all of the products of the same kind issuing from the various sections will be combined into a single stream of each product, and conducting said combined streams separatelyfrom the separating mechanism. 4. The method of separating the grounc product of Wheat in various stages of comminution by the plan-sitter principle of operation Which consists in separating a main stream of said stock into a plurality of streams, simultaneously conducting said streams of stock through a plurality of sections of plansii ter separating devices arranged in vertical series, controlling the flow of stock on said devices causing like streams of finished and unfinished products from the various sections to follow a common course after leaving the respective sections whereby all of the products of the same kind issuing from the various sections will be combined in a single stream of each product, and conducting said combined streams separately from the separating mechanism.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand. 7

BURTON NEAL. 

